Wanting to ban drugs containing Propoxyphene

***"(AP) Darvon, Darvocet and related painkillers were associated with the deaths of at least 2,110 people between 1981 and 1999, critics said Tuesday in asking the government to ban the drugs.

Several hundred more people have died accidentally after taking the drugs each year since then, Public Citizen's Health Research Group said in a petition it planned to submit to Food and Drug Administration acting Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.

Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the group's director, said the main active ingredient in the drugs, propoxyphene, is a relatively weak painkiller and poses an unacceptable toxic risk to the millions of patients prescribed it each year. It has been sold since 1957.

"This a black-and-white example of a drug where its risks far outweigh its benefits," Wolfe said. "There's no excuse for this drug to be around."

The drug's popularity has waned, but still doctors wrote 23 million prescriptions for propoxyphene-containing drugs last year. Darvocet, which combines propoxyphene with acetaminophen, is among the best known.

An analysis of 26 studies that compared propoxyphene and acetaminophen with just acetaminophen or a dummy pill found the "narcotic combination offered little benefit over acetaminophen alone" in treating pain.

"Thus, propoxyphene provides minimal if any additional analgesia to acetaminophen alone and is associated with significant adverse effects. It cannot be recommended for routine use," Dr. Carolyn Sachs of the University of California, Los Angeles, wrote in her analysis, published in March 2005 in American Family Physician."***

You can read the rest of the article at the link. If they want to ban such a mild narcotic, and they get away with it, can you imagine what this well mean for us chronic pain sufferers? Because they will just move on to getting rid of the stronger stuff that we need to fuction each day. Obviously the people involved in this have never suffered a chronic condition where they've desperately needed pain relief. Wonder what they would think if it was one of their kids, or spouses who needed it and it was the only thing that helped them or that they could take?

But, for those who have not used narcotics previously, so they have no tolerance built up to them, it is effective. I was able to use it for over a year, because a weirdo doc had told me a reaction I had to codeine was an allergy, not just a side effect, so I thought I was allergic and couldn't take other stuff. It worked great for me, until my pain got worse and my tolerance to it built up!

Also, if they manage to get this one banned, where does it stop? There are organizations just as vocal about Methadone, Soboxone, Morphine, Oxycodone, do they just want to leave chronic pain people to suffer in agony, because it doesn't concern them?

propoxyphene is a garbage drug. the only reason doctors use it today is normally when the patient asks for it by name. some clinical studies prove that it is no better than tylenol alone. the real problem is in elderly patients whose kidneys do not clear the toxic metabolite. nobody is going to ban the drug. the medical profession is moving away from the use of darvocet and any physician that starts his patients on it is behind the times. the drug itself should fade away due to lake of use however every pharmacy will stock it for years.

It's not even prescribed anymore here in Canada it went out about the same time toradol did.I have heard of those reports about tylenol alone being just as effective.I no I was put on 642's over 20 years ago after knee surgery and I actually took them back to the pharmacy because I thought they gave me the wrong drug.I went back to the surgeon and got some morphine and that worked.....Dave

The effectiveness, I think, really depends on the person, for someone who has never used narcotics, it might help, but if you have already built up a tolerance to them or used heavier narcotics, it won't do anything for you.

Hi Zippy,
My Mom has been on those pills for about 6 years now following a car wreck,should we be worried?I know it is very mild and I don't even think it does her any good anymore,but she thinks it does.

Unless she is taking increasingly more of them, there is nothing to worry about as to her taking them for the long term. They are really no more dangerous than any other drug you take regularly for a long period of time.

Now, as to if they discontinue it altogether, yes, if she has been taking it that long and has to stop abruptly, she could run into some withdrawal issues. Even though it is very mild, your body does get used to just the same as any other narcotic.

There are other, fairly mild drugs, that she could use in place of it, if she really needs something for pain, she would just have to see her doctor to discuss her options.

I agree. I'm 29 and years ago doctors proscribed me Darvocet for my jaw pain. I protested, but I was given a bottle of 100 pills like they were handing out candy at a parade. After I lost my medical insurance when I finished grad school I was without the immediate alleviation I'd been condition for. Next viable option... street drugs. After a few months a went to a methadone clinic, in NYC and LA, and most of the people there were for prescription pain killers dependency. When I asked one of the counselors how they can possibly live with themselves when they take they money off the street from the pusher and get them hooked on mehtadone, a progragram that is subsidized by the goverment, he told me: "We all got to make a living someone."

I went cold turkey and confessed to all of my loved ones about my addiction. And will not take prescrpiption painkillers for anything, unless I'm dying I might opt for a morphine drip. Legalization of drugs is an arbitrary, non-sensical thing, buy keep in mind the revenue that the pharmaceutical companies reap from sould whol learn about new afflictions. Ambien and Lunesta are attaining epidemic proportions. You can't fight the corporations you can just be more clear headed and stronger than them.

propoxyphene was given to me when i decided to go home from the hospital with pancreatitus to battle it on my own. all i really had to do was not eat and eventually i would get better. four or five days of popping darvocet and eating nothing of course left me feeling quite whacked, and the crazy thing is that i'm a recovering oxycontin addict, so instead of giving me vicodin (hydrocodone) (which is probably what i really should have been given), the doctor's gave me the next step down which was propoxyphene. i had taken it in the past to kick a percocet addiction, and i did kick the habit for close to three weeks before i picked up my habit again and harder than ever. i have found that it can help with withdrawals when it comes to drugs like oxy's perc's morphine, and vicodin, so it could be used for something like that in my personal opinion. as for the pain, there was none during the first couple of doses, but that was it. just the first couple of doses were effective, and after that i was popping darvocet hard just to get the pain to go away. i ended up going back to the hospital where they gave me morphine injections, i.v. fluids, and another two scripts for phenergen and darvon (the doctor felt that the tylenol was pretty bad for my liver...and my liver was already in pretty bad shape from all the pill popping.) the point is the darvon didn't do anything either. instead of taking the pain, it just gave me a bit of a high. i'm not saying that i liked the high, i just stopped taking it at that point because it wasn't doing anything for my pain in the first place, and i've been very strict about staying clean (5 months now) i flushed the rest of the pills and that was the end of the story. if you want something that really will take away your pain ask for vicodin or percocet. just be careful, they'll getcha. T3's or 4's are actually not that bad of an alternative either, but they've never done much for me either. even though they're rougher opiates (perc's, vic's, etc.) they do work. i'm now in chronic pain myself with an injury of stabbing pain in my rib that doctor's are still trying to classify (it's been a year now), and the doctor's are reluctant to put me on anything, but they know i'm in pain (i'm on subutex for opiate detox and maintenance), and whatever else is necessary (sleep meds, ssri's, etc.) take it from me though as someone who's done a lot of pills, darvocet really isn't that great. for some i know it works, but for many it just isn't worth it. (sorry for rambling on and on...) Bottom line, darvocet or propoxyphene work temporarily, but are terrible long term choices. strong medicine works better. just be careful. blessings to all.

We were somewhere near barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Do Not Ban Darvon

I've been taking Darvon 65 for over 30 years, and it is the ONLY medication that gives me relief from my daily headaches. My doctor put me in the hospital for a week once, to try alternative medicines, and NOTHING worked for me but Darvon 65. The FDA MUST NOT ban Darvon, it would affect my quality of life tremendously.

Banning Propoxyphene would be a travesty!!!!

I have been using Propoxyphene generic 65 mg capsules for over 20 years. I have a severe short bowel syndrome from multiple surgeries and currently use a stomach tube for nutrition since I cannot absorb normal food. Due to this problem I have used over 4500 mgs of Propoxyphene a day for arthritis that would normally keep me in a chair. That is over 2 times the recommended dose. I have had zero bad effects from the drug and have found that it is self limiting since taking too much at a time causes a very uncomfortable reaction. More is simply not better as it is with most of the other drugs like Vicodin, Perodan/cet, Tylox, Codiene,Demeraol, Oxy-contin, etc etc etc . Most chronic pain people are well aware of the tolerances and sever eaddictions caused by these other drugs. Plus they are schedule II which makes access difficult and much more expensive. If they ban this drug I can tell you it will make my life hell. I really am sick of these "watchdog" do-gooder groups, that think they know better than the people who really depend on a particular drug.

What does suicide have to do with the good or bad benefits of a 50 year proven beneficial drug. Those people will use whatever they can get and there are many drugs a lot easier to kill yourself with.

There will be accidental problems with any drug also. All in all I believe they are just sticking their nose into an area they really don't know anything about, other than technical high brow jargon.

They actually used a chart in the report to the FDA showing deaths between 1957 and 2000 that showed absolutely no increase over the entire period.....but they did add the "Cumulative" number to make the graph look like things were getting worse. How stupid do they think we are?

Please let your voice be heard in any forum possible....the next ban will be a drug you may be depending on!!!!

Error!!!!!

Sorry I am new to this forum and have not figured out how to edit a mistake.....in my recent post "Banning Propoxyphene would be a travesty" I said I used 4500 mg a day......MISTAKE....I was looking at my vitamin listing and accidentally used an old Vit C mega dose!!!!! I use 780 mg a day!.....I wouldn't be writing anything at 4500!!! Sorry